Oh IT/Indian/Male! you are doomed!

I think this whole thread has missed the point Gmatbschool was trying to make. Focus not on trying to be 'diverse'. IMO, that is BS. Focus on what you have achieved, what drove you to those achievements, how you achieved whatever you did, what you learnt from those achievements. Focus not just on achievements, but on your failures, and apply the same what/how/who/why/where/when, etc.

Don't just mention 46 hobbies. Everybody has hobbies. Focus on one or two things you would pick over everything else, and bring out why they're important to you, what they've taught you, how they will make you a valued member of a class and liked by your peers at school.

Stop harping on IT/Indian/Male. Unless you want to emigrate to another country, or get a gender-change operation, you're going to continue being one. Focus on the positives you've got from it. Trust me, there are plenty of them.

very nice discussion..keep us updated.

Copying/Pasting my response to a similar request from another forum:

My pre-MBA background:

- Computer Science Engineering
- Worked for Big-4 IT consulting for several years.
- My GMAT was pathetic for an IT/Indian/Male

My Application Strategy:

- Spent a lot of time getting the mix of schools right. Didn't apply to the usual suspects (Harvard, Stanford etc). Chose those that matched my profile and future aspirations.

- Didn't hide my background or my work in the IT field.

- Just highlighted the fact that I was knowledgeable about multiple industries, highlighted my leadership success stories, my team-leading experiences, my international work.

- Spent a hell-of-a-lot of time on my essays. Tweaked them, tore them apart, built it up all over again till I was satisfied that it did justice to my profile and presented it in the best light without bending the facts.

- Submitted my apps and prayed like crazy, hoping I'd get an interview call. Had several mock interviews to ensure the general questions as well as the odd ones don't take me unawares.

Result:

- Got into all the schools that I applied to. I chose Cambridge.

- Got a double scholarship from Cambridge. Also got a scholarship from another school.

- After the MBA, switched careers and moved from IT into Strategy / Mergers & Acquisitions

Gyan gained:

Structure your strategy well, moderate your expectations and you have every chance to get into the school of your choice.

Good luck.

HI bigoyal...interesting post.
Good luck with your application!

hi bigoyal,
though I am not in IT, i suppose there is one tip that you could use to find out how to portray your profile in a distinguished light. Just ask those who have done it before. A wharton admit told me this when he got in, being from Indian /IT/Male.

What he did was to search around in linkedin for people with admits, who have similar profiles like his and ask them how they managed to do justice to their own profiles in the applications.Believe me, there are a lot of IIM ( INdian/IT/male) admits in top US colleges and ISB (most of them turn out to be from IITs). Even though all of them are not sure to reply, I think most of them would be very helpful.

Hope that helps.
All the best on the apps.

Bigoyal,

mbagirl had some pretty good points. My take is that two people can be Indian/IT/male and have the same age/work experience/GMAT/GPA. Their applications can still be completely different depending on how they project themselves. My take is that if I cannot convince adcom, I wont be able to convince and inspire people in the future as a business leader.
On another dimension, the same candidates might have different background or journey to their current position and they can focus on that which will cause their application to be distinct. I suggest you focus on different domains like this to highlight your diversity.

FYI, I am from the same applicant pool who'll proudly accept who I am and focus on my experiences.

The elephant is the room analogy: When you are looking too hard to find a solution often the answer is right in front of you.
For example:

a.) A high GMAT (740+) can help you differentiate. Inspite of what others may say, if you are decent in all other aspects a 770 will for get you admits from several schools in Top 10-20 range.

b.) Do you possess exellent communication skills. Can you speak effectively in front of an intelligent crowd for 15-30 mins on a given topic ? 95% of Indian IT males can communicate for 3-4 mins on technical subjects. But you ask them to speak about Indian politics/sports for 10 mins and most would not do well on it.

c.) Are you in excellent physical and mental condition ? IT jobs with its sedentary lifestyle sucks the life out of you and you need to be very careful to maintain your health. Interviewers look for passion and energy and unless you are in excellent conditions you will run out of fuel in the last phase of your interviews.

Hello from the GMAT Club MBAbot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

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